February 19, 2010
Sunday Scripture
First Sunday of Lent
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
Our annual bout with Jesus’ temptations is at hand. The story occurs in Mark, Matthew and Luke. By extending the meaning of Jesus’ temptation to the “last temptation,” that is, to reject the cross, we can include the Gospel of John. In John 12:27 Jesus says, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour?” No way! For this very purpose I have come to this hour.” That Jesus was tempted in many ways is clear from a sentence in Hebrews 4:15 which refers to Jesus as one ”who has been tempted in every way as we are.” The author also gives the purpose of the Jesus’ temptations — to give us confidence to approach a high priest who can sympathize with us. Hebrews 2:18 expands on the purpose of Jesus’ temptations, “Because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”
Such is the purpose also of Luke’s version of Jesus’ temptations — a catechesis, a teaching moment. Luke begins with a reference to the Holy Spirit who visibly came upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan. The prompting of the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. The whole forty days of temptation by the devil is also under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Luke certainly intends to recall the Exodus experience of Israel when he places Jesus in the wilderness for forty days. Even a superficial knowledge of the Old Testament will recall the forty years of temptation of Israel in the Sinai wilderness.
Luke sets the stage for the first temptation: “Jesus ate nothing in those (forty) days, and when they were ended, he was hungry.” A biblical mentality will think back to Deuteronomy 8:2, “You shall remember all the way that the Lord your God led you those forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.” In the Old Testament the Lord himself did the tempting. In Luke the tempter is the devil. We think of Job 1 & 2, where God gives Satan permission to tempt Job.
The first temptation responds to the hunger of Jesus, an offer from the devil, “If you are a son of God,” for that is what the Israelites in Exodus were called, “command this stone to become bread.” He will not grumble against God as the Israelites did in the Exodus. He does not have to sell his soul to the devil for the basic necessities of life. Jesus knows that his Father will feed him. Therefore, going back to Deuteronomy 8:3, “Humankind does not live by bread alone.” A biblical mind recalls the rest of the quote, “He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, to make you know that humankind does not live by bread alone but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” That “everything from the mouth of the Lord” is the teaching of Jesus according to Luke.
The second temptation: a quick glance from a high mountain at the glory of the earth’s kingdoms. It was widely thought that the devil with great power was loose in the world. He says, “All this I will bestow on you, for it has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whomever I wish.” Jesus knows the true owner of all kingdoms and authority. He rejects the urge to power as idolatry, a lesson which the Church had to learn again and again through much battering and suffering — to become a servant-Church. Even today this lesson of Luke has not yet penetrated all facets of the Church.
The third temptation: the devil invites Jesus to jump from the top of the temple. God, through the angels, will take care of his own Son. The devil knows Scripture better than most Catholics, and quotes it freely to strengthen his proposition. Jesus rejects the proposal as nothing but a lust for personal glory. Here one may see a warning for those who hold power in the Church. Luke also teaches the true meaning of the devil’s unclear address of Jesus as son (or Son) of God, when Jesus replies, “Do not tempt the Lord your God.”
This reading is the prayer (a kind of Creed) prescribed for offering the “first fruits” of the annual crops to the Lord. In ancient Israel the first fruits were used for the support of the clergy. The idea behind the offering of first fruits: all production such as crops or animals are holy. They belong to God. It was thought that using them without some kind of”desanctification” could bring divine retribution. Offering the first and the best to God removed the taboo and transferred ownership to the offerer. An interesting idea for the contributions we make to God through the Church or to God through the poor!
Taken by itself, this statement of Paul makes salvation easy, “The word is near you, on your lips, and in your heart . . . . If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Faith in the heart and confession (proclamation) with the lips has consequences for all the activities of life. Paul puts the commandments under one, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” It is also faith in action.